Not a weakness A strength
by Haytar96
Summary: Tony has a question he wants to ask but will Pepper say yes? This is for the Pepperony spring contest. I know last minute but yay! I made it! Hopefully...rated T


**(A/N ok soooo this if for the Pepperony Spring contest and I just want to let you know that Pepper is going to school at NYU and Tony is Co CEO and Tony still has his arc reactor…so enjoy! And I'm sooooo sorry this is sooooo last minute!) **

Pepper hummed to herself as she padded into the living room of the Starks house. Howard sat in the recliner reading a news paper, he looked up and smiled "Hello Pepper…" he said with a smile. The redhead smiled back at him and waved "Hey Howard…where's Tony?" she asked and the older genius smiled. "I think he's still in the lab…" he said and Pepper sighed. "He needs to get out more…" she said putting her hands on her hips, Howard chuckled and nodded.

With a quick "Bye Howard!" Pepper left the house and quickly made her way to the armory. When she got there she punched in her code and the door hissed open, "Tony?" she called and there was really loud yelp. Pepper went into the room and raised an eyebrow, "Ummm was I interrupting something?" she asked laughing. Tony shoved something into his pocket and he shook his head "No…I was just working…" he said quickly and Pepper crossed her arms. "Riiiiiiight…." She said and Tony blushed faintly.

"Pep…can I ask you something?" Tony asked nervously. Pepper smiled "go ahead…" she said but the Iron Man alarm went off before Tony could say anything. "Oh well I guess it'll have to wait…" Pepper said sighing and got into her armor; Tony huffed and did the same. They flew off to where the danger was and saw that Unicorn and Killer Shrike were causing trouble again. "Don't you guys ever take the day off?!" Tony asked shouting as he shot his repulsers at them, Unicorn looked up at him and sneered "In this economy? Bite me Iron ass!" he shouted back. "Point…" Tony muttered and continued to fight.

Pepper became visible and kicked Killer Shrike out of the air making him crash into the street. She landed next to him and dragged the villain by his wings over to Tony who was still trying to fight Unicorn. "How did you beat him so fast?!" Tony asked shocked. Pepper rolled her eyes behind her faceplate, "Spartan kicked him out of the air…." She said causally. "Someone has PMS…" Unicorn snickered. "HEY!" Tony shouted and punched the villain in the face. Pepper rolled her eyes again and dragged Killer Shrike over to the police.

Meanwhile Unicorn blasts Tony backwards on a car, his super pockets popping open and a little black box tumbled out. It landed by Unicorns feet, he picked it up and popped the box open. He began laughing at what he saw. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!" he shouted and Tony jumped off the car, "Give that back!" he shouted and slammed the masked villain into the ground. "OOOOOH RESCUE!" Unicorn shouted and Tony put his armored hand over the shouting mans mouth, "SHUT UP!" Iron Man hissed and grabbed for the box.

Pepper turned and wondered why Unicorn was calling for her. "Tony? Hey is everything alright? Do you need help?" she asked wandering over to where Iron Man was trying handcuff the struggling masked villain. "I'm fine Pep…Uhhh Unicorn is being tough today…" Tony said back and yanked the man to his feet. "Okay…" Pepper muttered and thought it was strange that the masked villain was bound and gagged and laughing hectically.

When they got back to the armory Pepper noticed that Tony was nervous. "Tony are you alright?" she asked taking his hand in hers. The young genius cleared his throat and nodded "Ya…I'm just tired…I haven't slept in a while." He said and gave her a small smile. Pepper sighed and obsessively ran her fingers through his hair "Tony you're going to be twenty years old soon! How many times do I have to tell you, that you need to sleep…at night….like a normal person!" she said irritated. Tony sighed and gave her a quick kiss, "You're right...I'm sorry." He said with a smile. His redhead sighed and gave him a hug "I just don't want to see you all run down…cause you're stressed when you're all run down and-" she said rambling until Tony kissed her to stop her."Pepper…." he muttered against her lips and the redhead smiled.

"Take a nap…" Pepper said taking a small step back. Tony sighed and thought a moment before a grin formed on his face, "Take one with me?" he asked and Pepper rolled her eyes. "I'm not tired…and I have to go to the library to study for finals…" she said and grabbed her bag swinging it over her shoulder. Tony looked like he was about to whine but Pepper put her finger on his lips "no whining…I'll be back later…rest up please." She said and gave him a chaste kiss before she left.

Tony closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "You still haven't asked her?" a voice asked and Tony's eyes opened to see Rhodey standing in the door way. He pulled out the little black box and glared at it as if it were the enemy. "Why is it soooo hard? I mean it's only four words!" he whined and Rhodey laughed. "You can do it dude…I know you can. And how long have you guys been dating? Almost two years?" he asked and Tony nodded. "Unicorn knows…he saw the ring when it fell out of the armor…" he said and Rhodey snorted "Great…"

"Sooooo when are you going to ask her?" Rhodey asked smiling and Tony sighed "when-when I'm ready…and when the moment is right…" he said sighing. The armory door hissed open and Howard walked in and looked at Tony expectantly. "Well…?" he asked and Rhodey smiled "He choked and didn't ask her…" he said and Howard laughed. "Shut up!" Tony said loudly as his cheeks got red.

Pepper sat in the library reading her notes and her books. She sighed and looked at her watch it was ten at night and she was getting tired, "Pepper dear…" a voice said making the redhead look up. The librarian Mrs. Mathews was standing there smiling at her, "Oh hey Mrs. Mathews…I was just finishing up…" she said closing a book. The old woman smiled "It's ok dear…I'm going home now...don't forget to close the door on your way out." She said smiling and shuffled off to main library door. Pepper sighed and glanced down at her notes again.

An hour later she got a text from Tony:

'Hey. When are you coming back? You've been there all night! You're the one who's losing sleep now!'

Pepper smiled and responded with:

'I'll be home soon…I have finals this week!'

One minute later Pepper's phone beeped again:

'I know…I'm going to come pick you up…'

The redhead rolled her eyes but smiled and sent the message:

'Alright…see you soon.'

Pepper packed up her books and notes; she was about to head for the door but a crash stopped her. "The place should be empty…" she murmured to herself. Pepper set down her books and walked toward the crash, she peeked around the corner and her eyes widened. Madame Masque was there dousing the books with gasoline. Pepper growled and clenched her hands into fists, "Whitney!" she shouted and Madame Masque turned around. She laughed and tossed the gas can aside "Well…look who it is…Pepper Potts. Or should I say Rescue?" she asked lightly, Pepper glared "What are you doing?!" she asked growling. Whitney laughed and waved her hand around "Well isn't it obvious? I'm burning it down!" she said smirking.

Pepper shifted "Why?" she asked slipping her hands in her pockets. Whitney sighed "I just love a campfire…and it's a pretty good way to kill you Potts." She said and laughed. Pepper gritted her teeth and hoped either her armor or Tony was going to be here soon, "Well…burning to death. That's a new one Whitney…why today? You could have just tried to kill me years ago! Why now?" the redhead asked trying to keep the blonde talking.

The girls circled each other. Whitney pulled out a lighter and flipped it open and a little flame waved in the air. Pepper eyed it and looked back up to Whitney's masque, "See Pepper…Tony slipped up. He revealed his little weakness. Killing you will make him weaker and the fact that I hate you will make all of this easier." Whitney said and dropped the lighter on a trail of gasoline.

The floor lit up immediately and Pepper stumbled backward out of the flames way. The books quickly caught fire and Pepper ran around them to get to Whitney. "Whitney!" she shouted coming up behind the villainess. Whitney stopped and smirked, she quickly turned around to throw a punch in Pepper's direction but the redhead dodged it.

Pepper kicked Whitney in the stomach making her fall backwards. Madame Masque jumped to her feet and punched Pepper multiple times before kicking her to the ground. Pepper spit out some blood and glared up at the blonde, "Goodbye Pepper…" Whitney hissed and disappeared into the smoke. The redhead coughed and staggered to her feet. The whole library was engulfed in flames; she could hear sirens and the crackling of the fire as it burned the books and the building.

Tony drove down the road toward the library only to see flashing red and blue lights with fire trucks parked outside a burning building. It only took Tony a second to realize it was the library; he quickly got out of the car and ran up to a police officer. "I'm sorry Mr. Stark! You can't go in there!" the officer said as Tony struggled against him, "But my girlfriend is in there!" he said pained.

"We got a survivor!" someone shouted and a fireman ran up to the door of the library and pulled a girl to the ambulance. Tony struggled out of the police officer's grip and ran over to the survivor, "Pepper?!" he called and the firefighter moved out of the way to reveal a familiar redhead covered with small burns and ash. "Pep…" Tony sighed relieved and pulled her into a hug, he took her face into his hands and looked at her. "Are you alright? How did you get out?" he asked worriedly. Pepper sighed and glanced down beside her and Tony followed her gaze, "Called my armor…Whitney did all of this. She wanted me dead to weaken you…" Pepper said confused.

Tony sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "Whitney's crazy…you know that…" he said blushing slightly. Pepper looked at him tiredly and sighed "Can we please go home now?" she asked and Tony smiled and nodded. "Sure sweetheart…" he whispered as he placed a kiss on her forehead. He went over to a police officer and told him that he was taking Pepper home; the cop nodded and said "Stop by the station tomorrow so she can give her statement."

As soon as Pepper's head hit the pillow she was out like a light. Tony smiled at her sleeping form and he looked down at the small box in his hands, he sighed and put under his pillow. Pepper shifted in her sleep and pulled Tony's arm so it was over her, she then took his hand and held it as she slept. Tony smiled and leaned down and kissed her cheek before resting his head next to hers.

An hour later Pepper woke up breathing hard. Fire invaded her dreams. Pepper looked around the room and saw that she was fine, "Pep?" Tony asked sitting up. He wrapped his arms around her and gently pulled her close, "Bad dream?" Tony asked whispering and Pepper nodded. "I'm fine…" she whispered and turned to face him, "Am I weakness Tony?" she asked sadly. Tony shook his head and smiled "Pepper you're not a weakness. You're strength. You keep me going and I don't know what I would do without you…I love you…" he said quietly. Pepper sniffed and nodded "Love you too…" she whispered.

Tony smiled and leaned down and gave her a chaste kiss which quickly leads to a little bit more. Pepper's hair was splayed out on the pillow and Tony was leaning on his elbow above her wearing a smile. "You know…I've been trying to ask you something for a while now…" he said and Pepper looked at him curiously, "And what would that be?" she asked and Tony sighed nervously. He pulled something out from under his pillow and held it in front of her, "Patricia Elizabeth Potts…will you marry me?" he asked and Pepper's eyes widened. She was speechless; Pepper looked at the ring then at Tony. Instead of saying yes she lunged at him knocking him backwards, she smiled at him before kissing him.

Tony chuckled when they stopped "soooo is that a yes?" he asked and Pepper nodded wearing a grin. "Of course it's a yes…" she whispered and hugged him tightly; Tony smiled and hugged her back burying his head in the crook of her neck. They pulled apart and Tony picked up the little black box, he took the ring out and slipped it on Pepper's finger. The ring was a silver band with a blue sapphire with a halo of diamonds around it and the band, the sapphire reminded Pepper of Tony's arc reactor in his chest. The couple lay back down and talked about the future, they talked until the sun came up.

Then Pepper suddenly asked "Uhhhh Tony…how are we going to tell my dad?"

"I'm a dead man…" Tony muttered and Pepper laughed. "Someone is afraid!" she said teasingly. Tony grumbled "Yes. Yes I am…" and Pepper giggled and said "Don't worry I'll protect you." and kissed him before getting out of bed. Tony smiled and closed his eyes and thought about his new fiancée, "Sooooo you asked her?" a voice asked and Tony's smile widened. "Yes. Yes I did…" he said and Howard smiled and said "good. It's about time..." and left.

**(A/N Ugh! Crap ending! Soooo sorry lol Ummm I want to remind you guys that I have poll on my profile and I'm at an even number for votes soooo help a girl out! I also want to remind all of you that some friends and I have opened a Fanfic account together because we're writing a series of stories where we meet the Avengers and so on. Not my idea but it was fun to write all the same. I recommend checking out our profile before reading the story. Our name is Avengers Chicks. I also really hope you liked the story! If you didn't leave a review! If you did also leave a review! **

**P.S. I'm going to be gone for two weeks and I won't be able to put anything up for a little while. On Sunday I'm going to the Governors Institute for the arts soooo I'll be gone for a little bit.) **


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